AT&T launches 4G LTE in 10 new markets ahead of iPhone 5 launch

AT&T has turned on its 4G LTE network in 10 new major cities across the U.S. in anticipation of Friday's launch of the iPhone 5, which is Apple's first 4G LTE capable smartphone.

In the last week, AT&T has activated its 4G LTE network in the following markets:

Birmingham, AL

Cincinnati, OH

Fayetteville, NC

Honolulu, HI

Memphis, TN

Pittsburgh, PA

Philadelphia, PA

Sacramento, CA

Seattle, WA

Wilmington, DE.

While the debut of AT&T's 4G LTE networks coincides with the launch of a new iPhone, which is AT&T's most popular smartphone, the press releases issued by the carrier make no mention of Apple's iPhone 5. Instead, AT&T has focused on promoting some of its other 4G LTE capable devices: the Motorola Atrix HD, Sony Xperia ion, HTC One X, Samsung Focus 2, Nokia Lumia 900, Samsung Galaxy Note, and Pantech Element tablet.

The addition of 10 new markets comes only a few weeks after AT&T turned on its 4G LTE network in nine other markets. The carrier has promised that 34 more will gain 4G LTE coverage before the end of the year, including Denver-Boulder, CO; Albany, NY; Detroit, MI; and El Paso, TX.

Current iPhone 4S owners on the AT&T network will see their signal advertised as "4G" in many markets. AT&T began advertising its HSDPA network as 4G because it is capable of 4G-like speeds, though it is not a true fourth-generation network.

Apple has addressed this distinction by displaying an LTE symbol in the upper left corner of the iPhone 5 and third-generation iPad when the devices have a true 4G LTE signal.

Comments

I don't mind occasional grammar or spelling errors but I am disturbed by errors of fact. Unfortunately, this article is riddled with misinformation.

"Current iPhone 4S owners on the AT&T network will see their signal advertised as "4G" in many markets. AT&T began advertising its HSDPA network as 4G because it is capable of 4G-like speeds, though it is not a true fourth-generation network."

"Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed. The detailed specifications of the IMT-Advanced technologies will be provided in a new ITU-R Recommendation expected in early 2012." (1)

According to the International Telecommunication Union, AT&T's HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) is "4G" by current definitions. Additionally, AT&T doesn't refer to their HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) as "4G," AT&T refers to their HSPA+ network as "4G." Furthermore, referring to LTE (Long Term Evolution) as "4G" while referring to HSPA+ as "3G" is absolutely unforgivable. While the article doesn't specifically refer to LTE as "4G," suggesting that AT&T's HSPA+ network "is capable of 4G-like speeds" implies that LTE is "4G."

[LIST] [*] AT&T refers to their HSPA+ network as "4G" not their DHSPA as "4G" [*] AT&T's HSPA+ is defined as 4G according to the latest definition of the International Telecommunication Union [*] Originally, only LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced were considered 4G (while LTE and DC-HSPA+ were considered 3G although much faster than EV-DO Rev A. feature of CDMA2000 such as offered by Verizon.[/LIST]

I was also surprised to see "Penn." after Pittsburgh (haven't seen that in years) AND right below is Philedelphia, Pa., a little closer to correct. Should be 'PA', that's all, both letters cap and no period after them.

Meanwhile, Verizon already has LTE available in a town near me with a population of under 1,000, and with no major cities within about 100 miles from there.

Exactly! Verizon's LTE (Long Term Evolution) deployment has been very aggressive. Even if the iPhone didn't have LTE this year, 2012 would still have been the year of LTE as every high-end smartphone has a LTE model. Verizon (and smartphone OEMs) have really pushed AT&T and Sprint.

I don't want anyone mistaking my dispute with the facts in this article as an argument favoring AT&T. AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have been very slow in deploying LTE. I can only say in their defense that they all choose the wrong standard to support. The only caveat is that AT&T and T-Mobile will have excellent speeds in their failover networks versus horrible speeds in Sprint and Verizon's failover networks.

I'm in Spokane Wa where Verizon 4G LTE has been in place for about a year now. I am not too impressed with their version of LTE. I use their LTE MiFi here on my iPad and can't get more than 3-4.5mbps down and 2-3mbps up on my tests. I actually get faster d/l speeds on my iPhone 4 on AT&T averaging 4-5.5mbps down and upwards of 7-10mbps up